This invention relates to the controlled release of a calcium sulfate matrix as well as to the controlled release of an additive to the matrix such as a medicament or a pesticide. Controlled release of medication in vivo is the subject of much research. Various methods and release agents have been suggested, tested, and marketed. Calcium sulfate has been utilized as a filler for bone cavities as it is spontaneously adsorbed and replaced by bone. Calcium sulfate, formed from the hemihydrate, has been used as a controlled release agent alone for the filling of bone cavities and in combination with additives such as medicaments and pesticides. As a carrier for medicaments, it has been useful in vivo because it is biocompatible and is progressively resorbed by the body, thereby eliminating the need for secondary surgical procedures.
One application for a calcium sulfate controlled release agent is the local delivery of medicaments in vivo. The ideal characteristics of a local medicament delivery system are (1) biodegradability, (2) biocompatibility, (3) prolonged pharmaceutical release (a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks), (4) reproducibility, (5) predictable pharmacokinetics and (6) controllability. Applications include the delivery of antibiotics to bone infections, chemotherapy where surgery may be either impractical or impossible, and delivery of growth factors and analgesics. The currently acceptable methods of drug delivery are somewhat limited and unpredictable. Intravenous antibiotic therapy is the most effective route, but it requires high serum levels of drug to achieve adequately high levels at the site of infection. This can lead to serious complications in organs such as the kidneys and liver. Oral delivery of antibiotics is subject to the unpredictable nature of gastro-intestinal absorption to get the required amounts of drug to where it is needed. Delivery via implantable pumps is another method, but the pumps are invasive, must be removed, and the body may react to the presence of a foreign body at the site of infection. The most popular current method of localized delivery is the use of polymethylmethacrylate (bone cement) impregnated with antibiotics. This method allows for high tissue levels of drug being obtained without poisoning the entire system. It too has limitations, however, in that bone cement is a very dense material and is only able to deliver a limited amount of drug for a short time. In addition to this, bone cement is non-biodegradable, therefore it needs to be surgically removed at a later date, and acts as a foreign body in an infected site lending itself to other complications. Therefore, the use of calcium sulfate with its properties of biocompatibility and progressive resorption as a carrier for medicaments would be highly desirable.
The disadvantages to the use of calcium sulfate as a carrier, whether in vivo or not, however, are its rapid dissolution rate and the inability to control the rate of dissolution and, consequently, the rate of release of any additive. Various ways of controlling the rate have been attempted, for example varying the density or mass of the calcium sulfate matrix, but these methods have not been very effective.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide the controlled release of calcium sulfate. It is also an object to provide the controlled release of an additive such as a medicament or a pesticide which may be mixed in a calcium sulfate matrix. A further object is a method of preparing a calcium sulfate pellet with or without an additive.